Dr Cohen | ProActive Chiropractic Health and Wellness Blog

San Francisco Doctor of Chiropractic Learns Cutting Edge Approach, Tests, and Treatment for Gluten Sensitivites

January 27, 2011 | Filed under: Dr Cohen,Nutrition

Gluten Sensitivities and allergies afflict more people than previously expected. Dr. Andrew Cohen is yet again furthering his studies of this topic by attending
Dr. Kharrazian’s Neuroendocrine Immunology Understanding The Complexity of Gluten Sensitivity Seminar today.

We have been witnessing an explosion of gluten sensitivity in recent years and the seminar will cover the mechanisms behind this condition, as well as clarify differences between various laboratory tests used to identify sensitivity. It will discuss concepts such gluten cross-reactivity, deaminated gliadin, gluteomorphins, gluten epitopes, and gluten immunochemistry. Clinical applications in regards to laboratory testing and nutritional applications will also be presented.

Translation: The more Dr. Cohen knows, the more he can help and teach you.

Tackling Football Injuries with Preventive Chiropractic Care

December 9, 2010 | Filed under: Dr Cohen,Pain Management,Sports

Bruising tackles and bone-crushing hits are all too familiar among football players at all levels – from the National Football League (NFL) to Pop Warner youth football. Too frequently, the physical nature of football results in injuries, ranging from head and spine trauma, to bone fractures, to muscle and ligament damage.
“While athletes can never predict how and when injury will occur, doctors of chiropractic can assist in treating acute and chronic injuries, as well as introducing preventive measures designed to optimize performance and reduce injury risk,” says Dr. Sol Cogan, Detroit Lions Team Chiropractor and President of the Pro Football Chiropractic Society. “Prior to game time, and especially after the game, receiving chiropractic adjustments can enhance flexibility, range of motion, structural alignment and bio-mechanics, ensuring that the athlete’s body will recover quickly and function at its highest possible level.” Every NFL team provides the care of a doctor of chiropractic for its players.

Repeated hits to the body commonly lead to injuries including strains, sprains and stingers, which may result in severe aches and pains and loss of proper function. As preventive care specialists, doctors of chiropractic suggest football players, of all ages, take the following steps to properly prepare for games:

1.   Dynamic warm up and stretching before practice and games
2.   Wear appropriate equipment while making sure all gear fits properly
3.   Maintain good nutrition to achieve necessary energy levels
4.   Hydrate to prevent overheating and cramping
5.   Rest the body before and after activity, using ice for any inflammation
6.   Discuss all of your symptoms with coaches, trainers and doctors

“Taking a preventive approach with a training routine that includes chiropractic care stacks the deck in the player’s favor – helping athletes recover from injury (or collision induced trauma) by restoring optimal function and reducing the risk of re-injury, and ultimately achieving peak performance on the field,” concludes Cogan.

While Dr. Cogan works with the Detroit Lions, Dr. Cohen sees many young and old football players in San Francisco. He has had great success with helping Financial District business professionals who used to play high school and college football that still suffer from chronic or acute injuries, and getting the players back on the field.
“I see bankers or lawyers who played football when they were younger and now that they are in there 30′s and 40′s they can really feel it when they wake in the morning or if they sit in a long meeting. ProActive Chiropractic gives them many tools along with treatment to keep them active and enjoying life.”

Schedule a complimentary consultation today to meet with Dr. Cohen and discuss if he can help you.

Study Finds That for Low Back Pain, Starting with Chiropractic Saves 40% on Care

November 11, 2010 | Filed under: Dr Cohen,General Interest

A new study finds that care for low back pain initiated with a doctor of chiropractic (DC) saves 40 percent on health care costs when compared with care initiated through a medical doctor (MD), the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) announced today. The study, featuring data from 85,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield beneficiaries, concludes that insurance companies that restrict access to chiropractic care for low back pain treatment may inadvertently pay more for care than they would if they removed such restrictions.

Low back pain is a significant public health problem. Up to 85 percent of Americans have back pain at some point in their lives. In addition to its negative effects on employee productivity, back pain treatment accounts for about $50 billion annually in health care costs—making it one of the top 10 most costly conditions treated in the United States.

Published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT), the new study, “Cost of Care for Common Back Pain Conditions Initiated With Chiropractic Doctor vs. Medical Doctor/Doctor of Osteopathy as First Physician: Experience of One Tennessee-Based General Health Insurer,” looked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee’s intermediate and large group fully insured population over a two-year span. The insured study population had open access to MDs and DCs through self-referral, and there were no limits applied to the number of MD/DC visits allowed and no differences in co-pays.

Results show that paid costs for episodes of care initiated by a DC were almost 40 percent less than care initiated through an MD. After risk-adjusting each patient’s costs, researchers still found significant savings in the chiropractic group. They estimated that allowing DC-initiated episodes of care would have led to an annual cost savings of $2.3 million for BCBS of Tennessee.

“As doctors of chiropractic, we see day in and day out how chiropractic can save money by preventing expensive surgeries and long term medication use. By putting the most conservative type of care first it only makes sense it will save money and get people back to work and back to play quicker, which is what everyone really wants,” says Dr. Andrew Cohen of San Francisco, California.

The full study is available online and will appear in print in the December issue of JMPT.

Dr Cohen Fixes Walkers Up at the Breast Cancer 3-Day

September 30, 2010 | Filed under: Dr Cohen

Annually Dr Cohen, San Francisco Chiropractor, volunteers at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure to support walkers in their 60 mile journey with chiropractic care and Kinesio Taping.

This is the third year Dr. Cohen has slept and worked in the Medical Tent and always looks forward to supporting the walkers and crew with their sprained ankles, painful knees, low back and neck pain, and sprains and strains from carrying water or a bag for 60 miles throughout the Peninsula, Marin and San Francisco hills.

If you’re walking or volunteering, stop by the chiropractic medicine tent for a free tune-up at Chrissy Field — we have a fabulous team including MD’s, Chiropractors, PT’s, Athletic Trainers, and Nurses.

This one is going to be a warm one so make sure you hydrate in advance and during the 3-Day event!

San Francisco Chiropractor Goes the Extra Mile to Better Treat Extreme Athletes By Being One

September 29, 2010 | Filed under: Dr Cohen,Sports

San Francisco Chiropractor Dr. Cohen believes it’s easier to help patients when he has experienced it himself. That is one reason why he ran the Honolulu Marathon. So when a patient and friend of Cohen asked him to be a member of the team he agreed and for the last few months has trained for the “Tough Mudder … the TOUGHEST one day event on the planet,” as the race brands itself. They say “this is not your average mud run or boring, spirit-crushing road race” and it looks to be true.

Dr. Cohen expects this will be an extremely challenging race but it will help him treat other extreme athletes long-term. More importantly it will help him teach others how to avoid injuries and train more effectively.

This is one reason why he drove up to Bear Valley yesterday to run up the mountain. “This was pure torture coming from San Francisco, because although I have been training and running up to 2 hours during my training, the elevation is something that is hard to recreate. They were building the obstacles we will encounter and all I have to say is it’s going to be fun and difficult,” the San Francisco Chiropractor exclaimed.

Safety first. If you are encountering any pain before the race make sure you get it checked out because this race will make any ache or pain worse ten-fold.

Schedule an appointment online today.

PS. I know the mystery obstacle.

Dr Cohen Fixes Walkers Up at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer 2010

July 7, 2010 | Filed under: Dr Cohen,General Interest

Annually I volunteer at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure to support walkers in their 39 mile journey with chiropractic care and Kinesio Taping. The Avon Walk is yet another opportunity for me to give back to the community and support other great individuals who have been touched personally by breast cancer.

If you’re walking or volunteering, stop at the chiropractic medicine tent for a free tune up.

Does Your Blood Pressure Medication Increase Your Risk of Cancer? Chiropractic Reduces Blood Pressure without Side Effects.

June 14, 2010 | Filed under: Dr Cohen,Drugs,Heart Health

A new study, published in the journal The Lancet Oncology, analyzes the results of a host of studies of popular blood pressure medicines and found that these “drugs in the class known as angiotensin-receptor blockers showed patients were 1.2 percent more likely to be diagnosed with a new cancer over four years than others who did not take the drugs.”(1)

“…Dr. Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said in a commentary the findings were ‘disturbing and provocative, raising crucial drug safety questions for practitioners and the regulatory community,’” reports Reuters.

This does not surprise me. Many times every month we hear that Drug A causes horrible side effects and may have to be removed from the market. Despite this pattern, the cycle repeats itself because people ask the wrong follow-up question. Instead of asking how to get off the drugs, we ask what drug will be developed or what competitor’s drug will fill the void. So then Drug B is marketed as the new and improved Drug A, only to cause a separate series of side effects – shoot, who knows – maybe enough to finally remove that drug from the market.

The sad thing is that society is going to keep repeating the mistake.

Not to get preachy, but when will people realize that DRUGS, all drugs, affect the biochemistry of the body and therefore change a process within the body? By definition, any chemical alteration will have side effects. When we address the symptom of a problem without treating the cause, we will create additional, new, unnecessary problems.

Here is what I, as a patient, would ask: why is my blood pressure high? What can I do to lower my blood pressure? If there is no option other than a pill (which, by the way, is not the case), what will happen if we suddenly lower my blood pressure with a magic pill?

Apparently, the answer is that I increase my risk of cancer.

Wouldn’t you want to know that? Wouldn’t you think twice about the pill if you knew that?

There are other options for addressing high blood pressure: deep breathing, exercise…and…

Chiropractic has been shown to decrease blood pressure within one visit and have lasting effects without the side effects of pharmaceuticals.And it certainly does not increase your risk of cancer.

Why is the media not talking more about this? Could it be that the billions of dollars the pharmaceutical companies pour into television, magazines and newspaper ads might influence the quality of the reporting of non-pharmacological treatments?

So, since the drug options for lowering blood pressure cause cancer and chiropractic lowers blood pressure without the cancer side effects…does that mean chiropractic can reduce your risk of cancer???

“U r a conference animal!!! Hope u enjoy.”

June 11, 2010 | Filed under: Dr Cohen,General Interest

This weekend, a friend of mine invited me, my wife and our puppy on a hike. When I told her I was out of town at a seminar, she called me a “conference animal,” because I often decline invitations because of a conference.

It’s true.

One of the disadvantages of being an Applied Kinesiologist and Chiropractor is that I get used to immediate positive feedback.

You have to understand: 90% of the time, my patients feel a significant improvement during their first treatment.

On the rare occasion that I don’t get that “WOW! I feel so much better!” at the end of the visit, I am unhappy, disappointed and frustrated. What do I not know? What could I learn so I don’t have to feel this way? It’s the 10% that gets me thinking and forces me to keep learning.

This desire to help everyone in one visit makes me spend, on average, two weekends a month in seminars and post-doc training and to get 10x more continuing education than the state of California requires. Although it means I miss out on great hikes with my wife, my friends and my puppy, it’s good news for you!

Orthotics Exercises

April 30, 2010 | Filed under: Dr Cohen,Video

Exercises After A Lower Back Injury

April 26, 2010 | Filed under: Dr Cohen,Video

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